Glorious news! Brakes are back! Well, only for a one-off gig to celebrate 10 years since the release of their first album Give Blood. But it’s a start. Formed over drinks in the Prince Albert (so the story goes) by Eamon Hamilton (original keyboard player with British Sea Power), brothers Tom and Alex White (AKA The Electric Soft Parade) and Marc Beatty who also worked with British Sea Power in their early years. Sadly they went on an indefinite hiatus around 2010.

A happy packed Concorde2 witnessed an heroic attempt to fit 35 tracks into one and half hours.

Subsequent research has shown the limits of my musical knowledge. Debut album Give Blood had been acclaimed by the Observer, Time-Out and Rough Trade. Colin Murray on Radio 1 chose follow up album, The Beatific Visions, as his album of the year

Fortunately the one-off gig has become a short tour so more people can discover if Brakes are the best band they’ve never heard off..